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-DKL1\ERKD KY 



GENERAL Vv^M. B. BATE, 



-ON OCCASION OF DKDICATING THE- 



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"BATTLE-GROUND ACADEMY," 

(Professors Wall & Mooney) 

On the Field of Franklin. 



Franklin, Tennessee, Saturday, October 5, 1889. 



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PUBLISHED BY CITIZENS OF FRANKLIN. 



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P'rankj.in, Tenn., October 5, 1889. 
//<'//. JV///. B. Bate, Nashville, Tenn. : 

Dkar Sir — Having heard your address delivered at the opening of 
the new l)uilding of the "Battle-Ground Academy," in this city, we 
appreciate its value and general interest, and would rejoice to have it 
printed in pamphlet form. We therefore respectfully request that you 
furnish a (:o])y of the address for publication. 

Very respectfully, 

Atha Thomas, 
C. R. Berry, 
Park Marshall, 
Jno. H. Henderson, 
Henry H. Cook, 
Thos. E. Haynes, 
Wat,l & Moonev. 



Nashville, Tenn. 
Hon. Atha Thomas, Hon. C. R. Berry, and others : 

Gentlemen-— Your request for a copy of my address delivered at the 
opening of the "Battle-Ground Academy," on the field of Franklin, a 
few days since, has been received, and I herewith take pleasure in com- 
plying with your request. Very respectfully, 

Wm. B. Bate. 



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MliililiiVifiniii-i 



ADDRESS 



-I)i;!.l\F.KKl) IIY- 



GENERAL WIVl. B. BATE, 



— Oi\ ocrAsiDX ()!■■ dkdicatim; iiie- 



"BATTLE-GROUND ACADEMY," 

(Professors Wall & Mooney) 



On the Field of Franklin. 



Franklin, Tennessee, Saturday ^ October 5, 1889. 



PUBLISHED BY CITIZENS OF FRANKLIN 







AMONG the criticisms of the press, the Americon of October 7, in 
presentiug the adciress of Generjil Bate, made the following intro- 
ductory remarks: 

# "A MASTP:RLY SPEECH— Ex-Confbdkkates Addresskd by an 

HoNOKKD Chieftain — Gen. Wm. B. Bate on the Historic 
Battle-Ground at Franklin — Eloquent, Patriotic, and a 
Stirring Plea for the Truth of History, 

" The American of this morning is enabled to give to those who heard, 
and to the ex-Confederates of the South, the address of Gen. Wm. B. 
Bate. The speech was made Friday, at Franklin, Tenn., on the field of 
the now historic battle, which bears the name of the town near which it 
was fought, and in which so many brave lives were given up for a 
righteous cause. 

"The speech was listened to with great intere.'^t, and inspired the en- 
thusiasm that always greets the utterances of the distinguished orator. 

"It is well for the South that such men as General Bate live to fight 
now, in times of peace, for the correct writing of the history of those 
great battles of blood, which shook a continent, and for more than four 
years taught the world the true meaning of war." 



P. 

Hon J R.HawleF 

2tJa'03 



i«'*B«K<?-e 'm<r?awj»;;.39gR^ 



ADDRESS. 



Upon the conclusion of the iiiLrodiictdi y remarks of Col. N. N. Cox, 
who in handsome terms presented the speaker to the audience, General 
Bate came forward, and, after making son)e pertinent and touching allu- 
sions to those members of the Franklin bar-, now gone, whom he met 
when he formerly came among them as Attorney-general of this Dis- 
trict, said : 

Mr. Chairman and Ladiea and Gentlemen : 

The occasion of assembling in such numbers here to-day on this con- 
secrated spot is not political, in the ordinary sense of the term, but patri- 
otic; and yet all patriotic gatherings are political, inasmuch as they con- 
cern the good of the country. There is beautiful coincidence in the 
occasion of to-day's ceremonies, consisting in the purpose for which and 
the place where they occur. This building, in architectural form taste- 
ful and useful, has been built by the free contributions of a patriotic, 
brave, and generous people — an educational monument, so to speak — ^in 
memory of that battle which occurred years agone on this spot, and to 
that successful training of youth which is of the hopeful future. It is 
a memorial to the patriotism and heroism of those who, a quarter of a 
century ago, fought and fell on this historic ground, as it also is a build^ 
ing dedicated to the public good, where the gold-dust of knowledge from 
the hands of educators will be scattered over the budding intellects of 
the present and future generations. A-^erily, when we view the surround- 
ings, recall the past, and look to its future, may we not say it is trans- 
forming the haversack of the soldier into the satchel of the school-boy; 
making a campus of an " etei^nai camping-ground;" a playground of 
the battle plain, where boys, in merry mood and playful sport, n)ay 
shoot their harmless marbles and throAV their harmless balls where, alas, 
grim and daring soldiers did shoot their miiiies and throw their cannon- 
balls unto the death ? 

This utilizing for school purposes a monumental structure is "a new 
departure" that combines the practical with the sentimental; and to 
look upon it gives food for reflection. It is an epic in itself, an Iliad 
of our woes, breaking into a new and hopeful strain. Reflected from 
the dark war cloud of the background of this historic picture, we see 
the blended colors of the bow of promise in the foreground, as if span- 
ning the future. 

While we turn with admiration and affection to the deeds of our dead 
and of our living heroes who won immortal honors here, we will not 
neglect the future, but have the history of the past and hope of the 
future unite here as kindred drops that mingle into one. Notwithstand- 



ing you are in the forefront in providing for the education of children 
in the public schools of your country — having a large scholastic popula- 
tion and corps of teachers, for which you pay an annual tax, regardless 
of color — you, as shown in erecting this building, look beyond the pub- 
lic schools into the realms of the higher educational branches. 

This cultured and generous people, proud, as they have a right to be, of 
their lineage, their home, and their history, will see to it that this shall 
become a school where students Avill feel honored to have been graduated, 
not only in the branches of a ommon English education, but in the arts 
and sciences, in the Greek and Latin, and modern languages. I know 
there is a modern view of an educational curriculum that would exclude 
what is termed the " dead languages," but ours being, to a large extent, 
a derivative one, requires for its thorough knowledge and easy use, a 
fatniliarity with its sources. 

It seems to have been a })art of the divine economy that different peo- 
■'0 pies should speak different languages, else there would have been no con- 

fusion of tongues at the Tower of Babel. As to how long the various 
nations of this enlightened and progressive age, speaking different 
t(!ngues, are to remain unable to communicate with each other save 
through the medium of interpreters, let the scholarly advocates of the 
"Volapuk" answer. I am somewhat credulous of the success of the 
attempt to establish this universal language, not to supersede, but to aid 
the present established tongues. I submit that a necessity exists for it; 
that necessity is the mother of invention, and that this necessity is daily 
increa.sing, as type, steam, and electricity multi])ly their benefits for the 
elevation and advancement of mankind. 

I submit again that it is more feasible and of easier belief for a num- 
ber of scholars, by combined effort, to work out the problem of a uni- 
versal language than it was to believe, before successful experiment, that 
a'pp'ied steam could transmit vessels across the sea and carriages over 
the land as rapidly as the flight of bird ; or that, by taming tlie lightning, 
it could be made the post-boy of thought around the world ; or that the 
human voice, in ordinary tones, could be transmitted, even to recognizing 
the voice, from city to city. 

There is, as yet, but one universal language, and it is the sweetest 
and simplest of all, and especially charming to the hundred young ladies 
who sit before me. 

" When Music, lipavenly maid, was young, 
While 'yet in early Greece she sung,' 
The passions oft thronged 'round her cell, 
To hear sweet lessons from her forceful shell. " 

Yes, a simple "staff'" of five straight lines, and characters or notes of 
the plainest make, and located at intervals upon them, with reference to 
line and space— making "the scale"— is the medium of universal com- 
munication, and easily interpreted the world over. The Greek, as he 
reclines in his marble porches, or stands on the steps of tfie Bema, how- 
ever scholarly, may not understand a word of the grandest or simplest 
song written in any language but his own, yet he can read and under- 
stand the notes and bars, the lines and quavers, that comprise the music 
of that song as though thev had been written with his own stylus in his 



5 — 



own Hellenic. However beautiful the sentiment in that wooing language of 
the Troubadours, as expressed by the gay cavalier in his evening serenade, 
and although utterly incomprehensible to the fair listener of a different race 
and language, yet the gentle touch of the soft guitar, as he invokes the 
musical chords, is readily interpreted by "my winsome ladye" in the 
balcony. Music is the same everywhere; and whether its simple char- 
acters are seen by the gray eye of the Scotchman, the dark orb of the 
Frank, or the soft blue of the Scandinavian, they are easily understood 
by each, and are alike interpreted. 

When the combined powers of Europe assembled their respective 
armies to overthrow Napoleon, each was totally ignorant of the language 
of the other, but when their hundred bands of music were mustered to- 
gether, no iuterj)reter was called, for the baton of one maestro put all in 
accord an<l brought forth perfect harmony. 

Although our language, to be taught in this building, is not univer- 
sal, yet it is rich in expression, flexible and versatile. Being of modern 
classification, it is more rapidly improving, and is being more widely ex- 
tended than any other. An English-speaking traveler, can now find 
social companions, familiar with his own tongue, in every civilized city 
on the globe. And it is worthy of note that recently, and I believe for 
the first time, the English language was adopted as the medium of com- 
municatiou in diplomatic correspondence involving a national treaty. 
The tripartite conference recently held in Berlin respecting the Samoan 
imbroglio, was conducted in the English language, and the idea is gain- 
ing credence that the time is not remote when it will become tl>e court 
language of civilization. It certainly then should be the aim of every 
well-regulated school and of every student to pursue that course which 
will give the most thorough knowledge of our own language and the 
easiest and most ready mode of using it. I submit, cannot that, in the 
absence of a universal language, be better accomplished by going to the 
root, and by invoking the aid of Latin and Greek, the chief sources 
whence it springs? 

The sciences, as well as languages, are now taught with such increased 
facility that it is a part of every well-i'egulated school to make them leading- 
features in its curriculum. Every young man desirous of scholarly attain- 
ment can. easily be gratified through the present educational facilities, in 
much shorter time than formerly, if lie but do his part. The system of 
teaching as now adopted abbreviates the time formeily required to attain 
the same end. Application, with opportunity, accomplishes wonders; 
opportunity without application, nothing. And where could a place 
po.ssibly be found better adapted to the acquisition of a high order of 
educational attainment than this consecrated spot? In the heart of the 
most beautiful of countries, populated by a citizenry iioted for high 
character, culture. Christian devotion and hospitality ; scenery that is 
variegated and inspiring, with forest and field, with hill and dale and 
river ; and, added to all this, a renowned battle-field to insj)ire patriotism 
and valor as it lends an aroma to the page of history. 

In speaking of this place, of languages and sciences, and of opportu- 
nity embraced, it is to me as pleasing as it is appropriate, to make refer- 
ence to one of the sons of this county of Williamson. A gifted, learned, 
scientific man, who made a world-wide reputation, and won diplomas. 



medals, and honors from the highest sources known to science and learn- 
ing. 

To Lieutenant Maury every nation that floats a navy, every city to 
which commerce is tributary, every ship that bears exports and imports 
over the sea, every traveler who crosses the ocean seeking gain or pleas- 
ure, every sailor that goes before the mast, in calm or in storm, is in- 
debted for the fruits of his profound research. He studied the sea 
scientifically and with practical observation as no man ever did. He 
marked the winds above and the currents beneath the great deep ; 
learned their habitudes in every season and in all latitudes, ])laced their 
movements and gave their temperature and velocity ; pointed out the 
nurseries of sea storms and the causes that gave them birth, thus virtually 
putting beacons of warning on the Scyllas and Charybdes of the great 
deep. He gave alike to science and to sailor, a chart of the internal 
motions of ocean water, with their cause and effect. 
jjfc The scholar, alike with the school-boy, is charmed with Lieutenant 

^* Maury's "Geography of the Seas," as it unfolds the hitherto hidden 

mysteries of oceans, gulfs, and seas. His great familiarity with these, 
and the practical and useful manner in which his research has been ap- 
. plied, seem a challenge to old Neptune for the possession of his trident. 

Truly did he "dive into the bottom of the deep and drag up drowned 
honor by the locks." His name is most intimately blended with the rev- 
elations of that great water-wonder, the Gulf-stream, which, he tells us, 
is a river in the heart of the ocean that, in severest drouth, never fails, 
and in the mightiest floods never overflows. Its banks and bottom are 
of cold water, while its current is of warm. The Carribbean Sea is its 
fountain, the Gulf of Mexico its tributary, and its mouth the Arctic 
Seas. There is in this world no other such majestic flow of waters : its 
current, more rapid than the Mississippi and Amazon, and its volume a 
thousand times greater. Rising under the tropics, it flows through the 
Keys of Florida to the Banks of Newfoundland, thence across the At- 
lantic, through the English Channel, and is lost amid the eternal flow of 
ice that encircles the pole. Although in the sea, it is unsocial, and 
mingles not with the waters, but bears along in its majestic voyage across 
the deep the redolent heat of the tropics, to temper the far-off land of 
Europe — giving softness to the generous atmosphere of France, while it 
makes green and beautiful the bosom of down-trodden Ireland, as it pal- 
])itates for freedom and stamps it as "the loveliest dimple on ocean's 
cheek." As this great aorta of the body of the ocean silently but con- 
stantly dispenses its blessings to mankind, it lecalls unto the civilized 
world that geographer of the seas, reared almost in sight of this 
spot, who marked its source and flow, and in terms as easily understood 
by sailor as l)y scientist, gave the ])hilosophy of its mysterious workings. 
With the gate-way to ambition on the Federal side wide open to Lieu- 
tenant Maury, at the outbreak of our interstate war, yet guided by 
manly and ])atriotic instincts, he turned to his State — " not that he 
loved Ciesar less but Rome more" — and cast his fortunes with our de- 
voted Southland. 

With no Confederate States navy to command, and no special field 
open to him in which to gather honors or fortune (as his education and 
life had been purely nautical), he nevertheless espoused with promptness 






and alacrity our Coufederate cause, aud shared our good and evil fort- 
unes. Honored be the name and cherished the memory of this son of 
old Williamson, who gave such sacrifices to his convictions of duty and 
such redolence to history. 

This grand, learned, and scientific man, when a boy, hunted over these 
grounds and swam in yonder river; made his world-wide reputation by 
brightening and strengthening such natural gifts as may belong to some 
young men in this academy of learning, by dint of patient and tlioughtful 
study. It is an example worthy of imitation, and especially commends 
itself to the young men of this institution. 

Its name, by which we baptize it to-day— Battle-ground Academy 
— and the site on which it is erected, are suggestive of those wonderful 
historic events in our country that had a cause as well as consequence, 
and which most appropriately call for a brief reference on this occasion 
of its dedication. 

The object for which the American colonies confederated having been 
accomplished, aud a recognition by foreign powers given, some more 
permanent form of government, with a common head for certain pur- 
poses, was by our fathers deemed essential for the common good. 

The colonies assumed the garb of independent statehood, and in the 
midst of much embarrassment established the General Government. Its 
dual form — State and Federal — ^seeraed to beget jurisdictional jealousies 
from the outset. It was an experiment to establish a Government that 
denied the divine right of kings and politically aud socially eliminated 
from it royalty aud privileged classes — the purpose being to establish a 
Government by and for the people. The fact of having been then so 
recently under the dominion of a centralized form of government caused 
many of the wisest and best patriots to doubt the success of so sudden 
and radical a change. Our political edifice, however, was erected, but 
the workmen left combustible materials within. 

Even whiLe in the very cradle of liberty, the conflict between State 
and Federal authority was ominous of evil, the one tending to central- 
ism, aud the other to separation. Auxiliary to this, sectionalism reared 
its horrid front, and as early as the acquisition of Louisiana in 1803, 
sectional troubles were rife and foreboding, for the reason that the great 
territorial expanse coming in under that purchase, disturbed sectional 
balance. Later on, the "Missouri Compromise" rekindled the smol- 
dering fires of sectionalism, to the alarm of the wisest and best, and Were 
again smothered, but not extinguished, by the temporizing policy of 
compromise. 

Fiscal legislation, embracing the taxing powers of the Government 
and the mode of executing them, opened a broad arena for strife, the 
gravamen of which was sectional domination. Meanwhile the "irre- 
pressible conflict " l)etween free aud slave labor gave constant irritation 
to this old sore, as it became more and more feverish and virulent. 

Then came, as a bird of evil omen, the extension of slavery in the 
Territories, and brought the final issue of sectional balance still nearer, 
and SI) inflamed the popular mind of either section as to absorb all other 
issues and plunge us into a sectional and fratricidal war. 

In the formation of our Government the seeds of discord were left 



— 8 — 



in the body-politic, and though the period of germination was three- 
quarters of a century, yet they did at last burst their cerements and 
come forth in blossoms of blood. 

Great men— patriots — who could wield alike in the forum the battle- 
ax of Coeur de Lion and the magic blade of Saladin, met in sublime 
debate; sometimes in calm, cold reason, with clean-cut logic, and then 
again as wind and wave meet in the fury of the storm, but in the end 
failed to reconcile these discordant elements. "'Our fathers ate sour 
grapes and their children's teeth were on edge." 

When all else failed, sectional hostility appealed to that final arbiter — 
the sword. It has been aptly and beautifully said, that "the snowflake 
is the nucleus of the avalanche of the Alps, which, though long form- 
ing, niay be loosened by a sunbeam and sent like crashing thunder on 
the plain." So it was with us in 1861 — the avalanche from the mount- 
ain of political prejudice came crashing upon us with the thunder of 
revolution. The game afoot, the dogs of war let loose, the fratricidal 
butchery went on for four years, until crape Avas seen on every door; at 
every table there was a vacant chair, and every hearth-stone in the land 
was blackened with blood. You, my comrades, many of whom I see 
around me, were not the cause, but active and willing agents of that 
cause, as you should have been, and as I was, and for which I have no 
apologies. You were not idle spectators in the vast coliseum, witnessing 
the terrible combat as it deepened between the gladiators, but at a bound 
leaped into the arena, and bore well your part to the end — often in the 
very jaws of death. 'Tis over now, and you and I, and all of us. North 
and South, are at peace, and rejoice that it is so. Time, the gi'eat 
healer, has been pouring balm upon the wounds, and they are healing. 
Scars are gradually wearing away, and most naturally under the cura- 
tive influence of intercourse — commercial, social, and political — may 
eventually disappear "as does the path of the eagle in the air, or the 
track of the ship in the sea." 

May it not be that the houses of York and Lancaster are prototypes of 
the American Roundhead and Cavalier? While their internal war was 
flagrant, the red and white wore thorny roses that alternately held sway, 
and for thirty years marked their paths with blood, with the loss of 
100,000 lives, including eighty princes of the line. They, as we, spoke 
the same language, bowed at the same altar, and held to the same tradi- 
tions. And when the strife between them was ended, the perfume of 
the' bruised rose — the sweeter for its misfortunes — went into the blood of 
its twin and gave it increased beauty and redolence, and with a united 
strength built up modern England, one of the most powerful nations 
known to the history of man. And though we may have, as the house 
of York, found a Bosworth field, yet the victors so keenly felt the point 
of our lance that they rejoice, as we do, that the conflict is ended, and 
that we are a united people, with one destiny and one flag, and ready 
alike with our late foes to defend it. 

It belongs to history, however, that the Confederates did have a Gov- 
ernment for four years— years of battle and of blood — and that it was 
organized after the fashion of the one established by our fathers— Presi- 
dent, Cabinet, and Congress, and all the requirements of an organized 



9 



Goverument — aud withal, au army to back io; an ainiy that had, first 
and last, something less than 600,000 enlisted officei's aud men. 

It is also history that, speaking in round numbers, there were enlisted 
on the Federal side two and three-quarter millions of men, with all ap- 
pliances for vigorous warfare at command, and that it required four 
years to disestablish the Southern Confederacy. 

Ours was a pent-up Utica; no navy, no commerce with the outer 
world to give value to depreciated currency or obtain recruits from 
abroad. We may have had arms strong enough in our Ithica to spring 
the bow of Ulysses ; yet when, by long-continued strain, they were weak- 
ened, we had no means of strengthening. Our foes commanded all re- 
cuperative force desired. Like Virgil's golden branch, when one was torn 
away another sprang in its place ; yet the adversary was held at bay for 
four long years. 

Now, that same Confederate soldier, who was overpowered by the num- 
bers aud resources of his enemy, returned under parole to the peaceful 
walks of life, aud found his country devastated and his home a desolation. 
Unawed, though oppressed by unfriendly legislation, he has made the 
best of citizen. With a philosophic patience born of soldierly self-re- 
liance, with an unflagging energy, guided by prudential economy, he 
has been, and is, an active agent in restoring his native land to progressive 
prosperity. Look around at church and school, at smiling field, at mill 
and factory, and ask Whence this marvelous change? You will be told, 
it has not come from influences abroad, but from home people, among 
whom this same Confederate element has been a chief factor. It is a 
victory in peace, conquered largely by this soldier element. 

With these bold facts staring history in the face. Confederates, though 
V)ealen, need fear no j^ust criticism as to motive, devotion to cause, patriot- 
ism, or prowess. This four years' struggle, on the part of the South, for 
principle — with marches and counter-marches, with bivouacs and battles 
— constitutes much of the romance of modern history, and is as full of 
gallant personal incident as was mediaeval chivalry. 

This temporary Government is gone, and gone forever, but it left a 
histor}' — a history that is full of the tenderest reminiscences and treas- 
ured relics. 

The ashes of our dead make more sacred the urn of this history. When 
we look into the casket of our interstate struggle for historic jewels, we 
will find none brighter or purer than those which adorn the Confederate 
side of this great drama. 

The sacrifices made by the Confederate soldier put to rest the question 
of motive. At no time was he doubtful of the legality and justice of 
his cause. There was never a time when he confronted his adversar}'^, 
even to the death, that he did not feel he was fighting for his country — 
for the legal right to local self-government under the existing Constitu- 
tion made by his fathers. Moreover, he never doubted his right to claim 
for the South an equal share of sacrifices made and glory won by revo- 
lutionary ancestry. He remembered with pride that the first declaration 
for colonial independence was made in the South — at Mecklenburg, 
North Carolina; that Thomas Jefferson, a Southern man, wrote the 
Declaration of Independence adopted by our fathers. He also remem- 
bered that Patrick Henry, another Southern man, when doubt an<l hesi- 



10 



tation had seized tlie popular heart as to whether the colonies should 
dare to strike for iadependence, raised that iuspiriug battle-cry, ''Give 
me liberty or give me death!" and aroused all patriots to decision and ac- 
tion. He also remembered that George Washington, a Southern man, 
led the army to final victory, and secured liberty to the American colo- 
nies; and that when the pivotal period of the struggle came, Southern 
heroes at King's Mountain, after the misfortunes at Camden, turned. the 
tide of war, and led to the climax of victory at Yorktown. Such assured 
historic facts nerved the Confederate arm to deeds of valor, as it struck 
for home-rule, or local self-government, under the Constitution, 

Among the historic features of that four years' bloody drama, was the 
battle of Franklin — fought near -its close. And being now upon the 
identical spot where it occurred, and the name and dedication of this in- 
stitution growing out of this battle, it will not be inappropriate nor in- 
vidious to recall, in a cursory way, some parts of its history. 

In the latter part of the summer of 1864, immediately following the 
conclusion of the North Georgia campaign under Gen. Joseph E. John- 
ston, culminating in the battles around Atlanta, under Gen, John B. 
Hood, "The Army of Tennessee," instead of further confronting Gen- 
eral Sherman in liis "march to the sea," changed tactics under its new 
leader (General Hood), and moved to the rear, with Tennessee as its ob- 
jective point. Without giving in detail its movements, it is sufficient to 
know that it entered upon the new campaign, under its new leader, 
with greatly reduced strength. 

I speak in round numbers when I say about 22,000 of all arms, after 
much delay, advanced from the Tennessee River, near Florence, Ala- 
bama, in jSovember, 1864, meeting the enemy at Columbia, Tennessee, 
a distance of twenty-four miles from this place, where the Federals were 
in force under General Schofield — two corps, including thirty pieces of 
artillery and cavalry. With a delay of a few days, a movement was 
made across Duck River, above Columbia, of a pait of Forrest's cavalry 
and two infa)itr\' corps — Stewart's and Cheatham's. Much delay in cross- 
ing the river necessitated a forced march on the part of the infantry, in 
order to intercept before night the Federal forces in their march to Nash- 
ville, their objective point. General Hood intended to deliver battle at 
or near Spring Hill, an intermediate point some twelve miles from Colum- 
bia, on the direct turnpike road to this place. Without entering upon 
the reasons for his failure to do so, as it has been a matter of much con- 
troversy, and has gone into history, it is sufficient to say that all Confed- 
erates believe that had the general tight come off there it would have been 
better for us, and prevented the bloody battle which came off here the next 
day. The Federals left SpiingHill in the night, and made their way to 
this place. Arriving early on the morning of November .30, they 
strengthened their defensive works around this place to resist assault, 
should it be made before evacuating it, in continuation of their move- 
ment to Nashville, then held by a large force under General Thomas. 
Failing to join battle at Spring Hill, General Hood pursued the enemy 
next morning, not waiting for his other corps under Gen. S. D. Lea, 
which had been left at Columbia on the previous day. The head of 
General Hood's column aniviug in the afternoon, his lines were formed 
with the view of attack upon the enemy behind his well-constructed 



— 11 



breastworks — Stewart's corps holding the advauce, moving that day, as 
did all of Hood's command, right in front. Stewart's corps composed the 
right of the line of buttle and Cheatham's corps the left and in pro- 
longation of it. The cavalry, under General Forrest, was ou the right 
and left respectively. The left of the main line of the enemy's earth- 
works rested on the bank of Harpeth River, just east of this, and ex- 
tended west across this front, and was then gradually retired in a north- 
west direction to the river again — a distance of perhaps a mile and a 
half — the river making a bend around the east and north sides of the 
town. S:ewart's right re.-ted on the river, and Cheatham's left extended 
beyond the immediate front on the south side of the works. The neces- 
sary delay in aligning and adjusting such line of battle, brought it near 
4 o'clock on that short day before the line could be put in motion. 
French's division of Stewart's corps in that day's march held the advance, 
being the right, and Bate, of Cheatham's corps, brought up the rear of 
that corps, which in consecutive order threw him on the extreme left of 
the line; and on arrival in the evening he was ordered to move around 
yonder hill with left extending to the Carter's Creek Pike, which you 
see just there, and sweep by Mrs. Bostifk's house. This necessarily dis- 
connected, to some extent, this extreme left division from the main line 
in its advance, it having, as vou see, to compass the arc of the circle, 
while the line on its right moved on the chord of the arc, direct to the 
enemy's works, and the line of the works being retired in a curve ou its 
right, required a partial change of direction to strike it. Hence, even 
had all started at the same tlnie, the short difference of the time in the 
assault on the works of the right and centre and the extreme left. The 
assault was made on the whole line with a courage and vigor rarely 
equaled in ancient or modern warfare. Just as the shadows from 
yonder hills were being lengthened by the declining sun, that remnant 
of the army of Tennessee, the pride and plume of our fated but devoted 
South, moved with intrepi<l step, under a murderous fire, through the 
crucial ordeal of terrible battle, into the very jaws of death. 

Near where we now are is where the noted " gin-house" stood; and 
hard by, to the west of it, was the equally noted "locust thicket," most of 
which had been cut and made into an abattis in front of the Federal line 
of works. The spot where we now stand is a little left of the center of 
the slightly crescent form of earth-works that stretched its mighty folds, 
as an anaconda, and l)ehind which the Federal lines found shelter. 
Those lines, that fatal evening, looked the more grim and angry as the 
smoke of battle thickened and the shadows of the evening darker grew. 
The approaching night also gave increased glare to the sheets of flame 
as they leaped from beneath the "headlogs" on the crest of the earth- 
works, as shot and shell and minie-ball were launched upon the ad- 
vancing lines. The Confederate lines moved in the charge in rapid, 
hence somewhat ii-regular order, but with masterly vigor and determina- 
tion. The outer works were carried with but little delay and small loss. 
The advancing lines moved hurriedly on. Many of this intrepid assaulting 
column gained the worUs. Some mounted and passed over them, and 
in some places, for short distances, held them; but tlie enemy doggedly 
held his ground, and nearly all along his line closely hugged the works, 
with here and there a second line in reserve, until, under the cover of 



— 12 — 

night, he left the field. Abattis were along some points in front of the 
works, making the approach more difficult, while at tlie immediate cross- 
ing of the Columbia Turnpike there was a break in the main line — rather 
it was retired and detached — leaving room for wagon trains and artillery 
to pass to the rear. Some of the Confederates in the assault made 
their way through this space, but the Federal reserves coming in soon 
drove back to the works those they did not capture. The most fearful 
and fatal part of the fight was in front of, and immediately to the right 
and left of where we now are. 

From the point of alignment and starting, just over yonder, is a direct 
line to this part of the enemy's works, and over unobstructed ground. 
In approaching this point of attack they moved on the chord of the 
circle, while those to the extreme left, on the extended line, had to ob- 
serve the arc, or change direction, in order to strike the works. Thus, 
as you readily see l)y glancing over the field, those immediately in front 
and to the left of this point, having less distance to compass and over 
unobstructed ground, came under fire first, and Avere most and longer 
exposed to its deadly effect, and hence the more terrible fatality amongst 
those daring men than befell some other parts of the assaulting lines. 
As shown by oflicial reports, this battle, on the Confederate side, Avas 
fought almost exclusively by the infantry. 

Of infantr}^ engaged on the Confederate side there were perhaps 15,- 
000 — Lea's corps having been held back at Columbia ; one division, how- 
ever (Johnson'.^), arrived after night-fall, and participated in the latter 
part of the battle, on our extreme left. Of this number more than one- 
third were killed, wounded, and captured. Of the latter, but few, and 
they were taken prisoners at or after getting inside the enemy's works. 
The number of Federals killed and wounded, fighting as they did be- 
hind strong and well-constructed works, was comparatively small. They 
stood their ground bravely and with eftect while the pressure lasted. 
General Schofield, now the head of the United States army, was chief 
in command. Generals Stanley and Cox were next to him in command. 
Not venturing an invidious criticism as to Avho was or was not efficient 
Avithin the Federal lines that day, I can say, judging from our stand- 
point and from results, that the Federal troops were hamlled with skill 
and courage. On the Confederate side it Avas the most fatal battle to 
officers of rank, according to numbers engaged, of any during the war. 
Of the general officers there were on the Confederate side six killed, three 
wounded, and one captured. 

Just to the left and front there fell Major-general Cleburne, whose 
name in history is circled Avith a halo as bright as the sunburst on the 
green flag of his native Ireland. 

Not far from him Avent down his trusted friend, Brigadier-general 
Granbury, on Avhose pennant the lone star of Texas glistened in glory. 
Brigadier-general Gist, of South Carolina, modest, brave, devoted, fell 
to the right and front of us. Brigadier-general Carter, a son of Georgia, 
but by education and adoption a Tennesseau, and con)manding Tennessee 
troops, fell over there on the right while gallantly pushing to the enemy's 
works. Here, just to the right of Avhere the relics of the old "giu- 
house" stand. Brigadier-general Strahl Avas first wounded, after having 
gallantly gained the outside of the Avorks, and while being borne to the 



— 18 — 



rear received two more sliots, which proved immediately fatal. To our 
left, nearer to the river, Brio^adier-general John Adam?, a native of Giles 
County and a graduate of West Point, a very Hotspur, surrendered his 
life at the behest of his native State, just at the dead line, where horse 
and rider went down together on the top of the enetn\'s works. General 
John O. Brown, commanding Cheatham's old division, was wounded in the 
action Avhile gallantly at his post of duty, but lived to be honored by the 
people of Tennessee twice electing him their chief magistrate, and was 
recently borne to the tomb with the commingled love and regrets of the 
whole country. Brigadier-general Quai'les was twice badly Avounded in 
this glorious but fatal charge, and still survives with a mangled arm 
dangling by his side, an evidence of that patriotism and gallantry charac- 
teristic of his life. Brigadier-general Manigault, another gallant sou of 
South Carolina, was wounded in this charge, and -yet lives, honored and 
loved by his people. General George W. Gordon, after running the 
gauntlet of this famous charge, and passing the works in most gallant 
style, was captured and held as a prisoner. To speak by name of the 
desperately brave officers of line and staff who fell in the carnage of this 
battle would require a list greatly beyond the scope of this occasion, and 
extend it into book form. It will "ot be censurably invidious, I know, 
to say that Colonel Smith, of the First Confederate Regiment of General 
Henry K. Jackson's Georgia Brigade, fell just over there near the locust 
thicket on top of the works as he was leading his command into them. 

Not to speak of those Avho fell on other fields, nor of the living (I see 
around me many hooes of this charge), it may not be too invidious for 
me to allude to Colonel John L. House, who survived it, but is now num- 
bered among the dead; who lived and died in sight of this battle-field, 
on which he so distinguished himself in command of his heroic First 
Tennessee Infantry Regiment, the fortunes of which he had shared dur- 
ing the entire war. 

Lieutenant Theodore ("Todd") Carter, after an absence of nearly 
three years, and while literally fighting for his fireside, fell near his 
father's door, just over there, as if fate had brought him home to die in 
the bosom of his family. Colonel Wm. Shye, who from boyhood to 
manhood lived near this spot, rose by degrees from Lieutenant to the 
colonelcy of our famous Twentieth Tennessee Regiment, led that com- 
mand in this charge, and in two weeks thereafter fell while resisting the 
onslaught of the Federal columns on Shye's Hill, fronting Nashville 
(named in honor of him), as by sheer force of numbers they over- 
whelmed his thin but gallant lines. 

Among these personal allusions, it is with pride and pleasure that I 
refer to our honest, brave, and blunt old commander. General Frank 
Cheatham, who not long since passed over the river, and now rests under 
the shade of the ti-ees. Thy bosom, O Mount Olivet, never received in 
its embrace a braver soldier, a truer patriot, a better friend, nor a kinder 
heart. 

Last, but not least, the truest and bravest of all, the private soldier, 
who, limb- weary and foot-sore, had borne alike for months and years the 
quiet camp, the weary march, the bivouac and the battle, mostly without 
shelter of tent, with thin blanket, thin coat, and often Avith thin crust. 
For two days preceding this battle he had marched, sometimes in a 



14 — 



"double-quick," wheu weary of limb and sore of foot, yet he stood the 
role of duty uucomplaiuiugl}', and not askiug the reason why he was 
called upon to confront these defiant and almost impassable works, instead 
of turning them to right or left, nor questioning the nature of the ground, 
an unobstructed plain, over which he was to charge, with no helmet but 
his slouched hat, ho shield but his old gray coat, and in which he gave up 
his life. But, true to duty, he gave himself as a holocaust to his country, 
and now sleeps, just yonder, in sight of this field of Mars, in McGavock 
Cemetery, given by that sterling patriot, modest and cultivated gentle- 
man. Colonel John McGavock, who, thank heaven, still lives to greet us 
here to-day. It is a beautiful grove near his dwelling, where the giant 
oaks and witch elms cast their shadows with the rising and setting sun 
on the green sward that swells above his buried chivalry. It is over 
these modest graves we. should offer the Christian's prayer, and for them 
interweave the cypress with the laurel. Rest there, comrades, in that 
"eternal camping ground," where with the coming of spring flowers 
youth and beauty meet to plant the cross and scatter forget-me-nots, and 
"where the woodbine spices are wafted abroad and the musk of the 
roses blow." 

Those private soldiers whose lives were given on this sacrificial altar to 
their country, were the most devoted and faithful of heroes that belong 
to history. Theirs assimilates in martyr courage and devotion to duty, 
that of the pagan soldier who, as sentinel, was on guard in Pompeii when 
the destroying element emitted from the crater of Vesuvius overwhelmed 
that ill-fated city. While others fled afl~righted, he, from a sense of 
duty, stood to his post, and perished beneath that Vesuvian overflow. 
Eighteen hundred years thereafter Pompeii was unearthed and the re- 
mains of this pagan soldier, with his military accoutrements of helmet, 
spear, and breast-plate, was found at his guard-post. That private 
soldier lives in history, while the general who commanded him is for- 
gotten, and his helmet and lance and breast-plate are to-day held in the 
museum at Naples as priceless tro})hies, challenging alike the admiration 
of pagan and Christian. 

When the young student here, within the walls of Battle-ground 
Academy, reciting his Latin, is charmed with that historic romance, 
the iEneid, in which Virgil depicts the siege of Troy and tells of the 
artful Ulysses, of silent Achilles, of the fierce Ajax, and devoted but 
ill-fated Hector; let him turn the mirror of memory on this field, at the 
set of sun, on the 30th of November, 1864, and see the reality of modern 
warfare in its bloodiest type, as the departing spirits of grander and 
real heroes rise from the smoke of battle into their bright and eternal 
realms. Again, if this student recites in Herodotus or Xenophon, and 
reads from the ancient Greek of that martyr-band of Spartans at 
Thermopylse, or of the locked shields of the Macedonian phalanx, or 
of the display of Athenian valor, where "the mountains look on 
Marathon and Marathon looks on the sea," let him take an object-lesson 
that cannot be forgotten, by looking upon the scene presented on this 
spot, as the curtain of night lifts away on the morning of the 1st of 
December, but leaves the smoky pall still hovering, as if to hide from 
the light of day the number of heroes who laid dead on the field of 
Franklin. 



15 



Such history should be preserved in every known form, and I am 
persuaded that every broad-minded, generous, and gallant man who is 
proud of our Anglo-American race, and who has moral and political 
courage to rise above, local and personal prejudices, would rejoice to see 
it done. Our late foes, and I applaud them for it, have been vigilant 
and active in the preseivation of the history of their side of our great 
interstate strife. But on the Confederate si<le, with few exceptions, the 
muse of history has been silent. 

The truth of history, especially its most brilliant incidents, should be 
written, not alone with the pen. The chisels of Phidias and Praxitiles 
gave pith and point to the pen of Herodotus. The brush of Michael 
Angelo, and preceding artists, gave emphasis and brilliancy to passages 
of Roman history that fadeth not. The Coliseum, in ruins, impresses 
the beholder more with the former greatness and grandeur of the Romans 
than to read the books of Livy and Tacitus. The statue of Napoleon in 
the Place Vendome is a school of history to Frenchmen, and to them it 
has more of the elements of revolution than can be found in all French 
histories. The bronze statue of the "Iron Duke" is an object-lesson in 
which every boy in London sees Waterloo and the dowufall of the 
Napoleonic dynasty, to the relief of all Europe. In our own country 
Hiram Powers, with his chisel, has given beauty to thought, while 
Vinnie Ream and Clark Mills have molded much personal history into 
immortality. Then, not only let Southern pens write truthfully Con- 
federate history, but let the chisel of sculptors make our marble speak and 
the brush of artists make the canvas glow in the preservation of Con- 
federate history. The Confederate survivors of this war have made the 
best and most law-abiding and peaceful citizens in the laud, and they 
and their kindred and friends have, by their energy and frugality, lifted 
our Southland from the ashes of desolation in which the war left it into 
the high-road of prosperity, and now the time has come for us to look to 
the preservation of our Confederate history. 

My heart is with you in the effort now being made to erect in the 
Public Square in this county a monument to the memory of fallen Con- 
federate heroes, and as the noble women of this county are giving aid to 
the monument, its success is assured. Your example should be followed 
by every county in the South, until the rising and setting sun shall greet 
them all over this Southland. That is the way to teach our children and 
our children's children the history of our great stiuggle, and make them 
remember with pride the noble deeds of their Confederate ancestry and 
revere their memories as patriots and heroes. 



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